Ric

We touched down a quarter to six in the morning. We were in a helicopter in no time, and hovering over the Atlantic Ocean.

Stephanie was mesmerised, watching the sun break the bitter morning air. Her mouth was open in a smile. Lester and Bobby sat in a row of chairs adjacent to us, looking as sullen as they had in the office. I filled them in on the situation, and the help. They were not happy.

"Pilot, can you circle the island?" I asked.

"No can do Mr. Manoso. The air current is to strong. Every one buckle up, this is where we leave you." He responded.

I clipped the belt back together, and then did Stephanie's. She was asleep again. The descent wasn't terrible, I'd been in worse.

But Ian was nowhere to be seen. I have a vauge picture of him from the computer, but it had been taken several months ago. Several months could change the world.

I prodded Stephanie awake. "I thought you can't sleep on planes?"

"That isn't a plane." She grabbed her luggage. "It's a helicopter."

She beemed a full 1000-watts. All the cargo was unloaded and piled on the edge of the pad. The pilot said I should call him when we were ready to go, and waved goodbye as he was rising into the air.

We began claiming luggage. I pulled my duffel bag out and slung it over my shoulder. Lester found his backpack, and Stephanie already had her bag. Bobby waited until we had all cleared out.

"Who does that belong to?" Lester asked and pointed to the remaining bag.

"Maybe it's the pilot's extra clothing." Stephanie suggested and walked over to it.

She searched it for a name tag, and then peeled the zipper. She could have been right. The bag was as big as all of ours combined.

"Shit." I cursed hoarsly.

Curled in the tightest ball she could make herself into was my daughter. Her black hair was sweaty and stuck to her forehead. "Uh oh." She said and looked from Bobby, to Lester, to Stephanie and then finally to me.

I walked over to her and pulled her out of the bag and onto her feet. "I told you to stay at home!" I growled.

"I know daddy! But I have to go back home in four days and you said you'd be back in three! It wasn't fair." She kicked a rock into the brush nearby.

I got down on one knee to make myself level with her. I pulled her forehead into a kiss. "Its alright Monkey. But I should get you home."

"No!" She protested.

"It's too dangerous Monk." Lester chimed in.

"Why?" A father's most dreaded question.

"Just, because." I said and looked to Stephanie.

"Let her stay." Stephanie mouthed.

I shook my head. "Please daddy! I won't get in the way!" Kayla begged and folded her hands.

I stood up and swallowed hard. I was having a mental attack having Stephanie here, but now I was about three heartbeats from a heartattack. "Fine."

She squealed alittle bit. "Thank you Daddy." She cheered and leaped at me, catching me in the waist.

I put one hand on her back, and rocked her for a second before she let go. "Lets go!" She squealed and took off up the hill.

"We need to wait for someone!" I hollared to her, and she ran back down the hill.

"That was quiet a show." Said someone from the other side of the landing pad.

A greasy haired head poked out of the top of a gas powered jeep that had been driven into a ditch. Ian.

"Ian, I presume?" I asked and walked over to the jeep.

"Yeah." He stuck out a hand, covered in gasoline.

"What the hell have you been working in?" Lester had aparently followed me.

"Getting this damn Jeep started. The hill is a bitch."

"LITTLE EARS!" Kayla screamed.

Ian smiled. "I didn't think you'd put a ten year old on your team."

"I didn't." I turned to look at Kay for a minute. "It was an unexpected surprise."

Ian nodded. "I hear ya."

He turned back to the underside of the steeing wheel. He tugged at a few wires, one red, one blue and a tangled green and yellow one. He pulled and separated them for a long time. I extracted my pocket knife and sliced through the green and yellow ones. He stared at me for a second, and then pushed the end of the green one to the severed end of the yellow.

He gave an excited yelp as the car started. "Pile in." He said. Everyone threw their luggage in the overhead compartment and climed into the Jeep. It fit Ian, Steph, Kay and I. Lester and Bobby agreed to stay behind and look for Tank and Spider around the area.

"Who is Spider anyway?" Kayla asked.

"You met him at last year's christmas party." I told her and handed her a picture from my laptop case.

"Oh, him! He was cool!" She exclaimed and handed the picture back.

I stared at the picture for a minute. He was a cool guy. Short and skinny but one hell of a fighter. His real name was Spike Derman, Spi-Der. I was good at picking locks and hacking buisnesses, but he was, as Lula would say, "The shit."

The jeep neared a set of double gates, a sign so overgrown with plants you couldn't read it. "Welcome to Jurassic Park." Ian muttered under his breath and eased the grill of the Jeep into the gate.

It swung open easily, and revealed a vast landscape. There were several old bones arranged into creature like shapes. The grass was yellow and swampy. And stained maroon.

"Ick." Kay whispered and put her nose up against the window.

Just then, the Jeep sputered, and died. "Looks like were going to have to walk." Stephanie said downheartedly.

We all piled out of the car. Ian gave a sharp kick to the front tire and trugged off, following the path. The gravel crunched under out feet. We stopped at a fork in the road. Kayla let out a childish yelp, and we all turned around to see what was wrong.

A black t-shirt. Claw-like marks across both the front and back. I picked it up and whinced. Spider was close, but Tank was closer. And this was Tank's shirt.

I shook my head angrily and let the shirt fall back to the ground. There was a slight trail of blood. He certainly wasn't dead, or dead anywhere near here. I was going to find him, if it was the last thing I ever did.

We kept treaking, taking the right path in the road. Soon there was a sign, this one was covered with brush too. I pulled enough of it away to read the sign. "Triceratops." I looked at the field. In the middle of the field, a dozen cow-like creatures grazed in the meadow.

Kayla and Stephanie both let out excited sighs. Only in books and movies had any of us ever seen a dinosaur, with the exception of Ian. Speaking of Ian...

I looked around for him. He was standing a little off my left shoulder. He looked pale, and I followed his eyes. He wasn't watching the Triceratops'. He was looking at the bushes moving in the background.

"Run." He told me when he saw me staring.

"What."

"Go, just go." He barked and took off towards the jungle behind us.

Kayla and Stephanie heard him too, and didn't need to be told twice. I saw what had worried Ian, a moment too soon. Three four-foot tall predators linked from the bushes. Then a fourth and fifth joined them from either angle. And then two more from the front.

Two of the Top's went down. More lizards joined the seven already in sight. I counted twenty in all, the ages varry-ing. Stephanie appeared from the jungle, grabed a hold of my wrist and pulled me in the direction Ian went. Three of the raptors looked up at us, and then jumped to attention, sliently creeping along in our direction.

There was a little clearing in the jungle mess. The only proble was the barbed wire electrick fence, that had long since been electrified. "They're coming. They saw me." I told Ian.

"Shit." He muttered, and quickly puched Kay halfway up the fence, warning her about the spikes.

Without hesitating, I hoisted Stephanie up. Kayla was already at the top. "DAD! HELP!" She hollerd.

I exchanged glances with Ian. He nodded upward sharply, and I began climing. "Ric, I'm caught." Stephanie yelled. Her shoe was caught in the wire.

"GIve me a second." I groaned and strattled the top of the fence, helping Kay with my one free hand.

And the two of us made our decent. I stopped half way, to help Stephanie get the spike out of the sole of her shoe. Ian yelped when he heard the snariling. It was far off, but he shimmied the fence in a few seconds flat.

The pugnet odor of blood and guts got stronger and stronger. Then, from out of no where, a raptor charged at the fence. The raptor hit the fence, only inches from Stephanie. It grabbed ahold of the toe of my shoe, and bit through my two largest feet. I hissed in pain, and pulled Stephanie's foot clear out of her shoe. She made an Ian up the rest of the fence.

By the time she was at the top, I was painfully on the ground again. I had to beat the damned thing off my foot. There were six of them now. I knew there would be more. Ian's face insured there would be more.

Two of them charged the fence again, knocking Stephanie clear from the top as she was finding her footing on the opposite side of the fence. She hit me on her fall, knocking me on my ass, but softening her impact.

"Thanks." She huffed and brushed herself off.

Thirteen snariling beasts, all running the leinght of the fence as far as I could see. The number thirteen would forever have a new meaning.